


Wilderirks

by Hollow_Vessel



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: AU, Death, Gen, beasts - Freeform, forest, headcanons, slight injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22122838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hollow_Vessel/pseuds/Hollow_Vessel
Summary: The Irken home planet has two sides, with only one half being occupied by Irkens. Or so they say.
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Irk was a planet, mostly taken over by the buggy aliens that lived there. Vast cityscapes, not a speck of nature in sight. But that was referred to as the “light” side of Irk, though it was all drab and artificially lit. On the distant side of the planet lie tens of thousands of clicks of untamed wilderness. Filled with inhospitable climates and vicious creatures.  
Said creatures’ diets consisted of mostly plants and smaller beasties, but most if not all of them had a delicacy on their menu: Irkens. 

The once prey-species avoided the wilderness like the plague. It might as well have been. There were large walls built that separated the two halves of the world, with sentry guards placed there against their will, tasked with keeping any would be predators at bay.

Keys sat upon the top of the guard station, blaster spear set in his hands. There was a gentle breeze, bringing the scents of the forests over his head. His antennae twitched slightly as he overlooked the field between him and the tree line, eyes scanning for any monsters. None, thankfully. There hasn’t been one in a long time. Maybe they had learned their lessons after years and years of this poke battle between them.

Keys sighed and rubbed his eyes, blinking slowly. Behind him lay the outskirts of Irk’s largest settlement. It was an odd thought, that in front of him, there were no Irkens. None, no technology past this wall. Past his blaster spear, nothing as advanced existed until the other side of the planet... 

Something caught his eye. A ship, in the distance, flying over the dead zone. Keys’ orange eyes followed it as it flew further and further over the wilderness. Confusion clouded his gaze for a moment as he tried to figure out why anyone would fly out there. There was no telling if a beast or some vermin could shoot the ship down, or throw something at it- It just seemed dangerous and brought up a lot of questions. Because Keys knew that no one was to fly over the wilderness unless it was an emergency, and nothing had come up over his radio for months. 

“Keys! Your shift’s over!” 

His antennae flicked and he swiveled his head as he heard someone calling to him. The guard stood and turned to face them. Someone was taking his shift. Keys smiled and put up his gear and weapon, then leaving, thoughts solely focused on his imminent dinner of Vort dogs and a sugar slush. 

—-

The Tallests have secrets, of course they did. The deceit didn’t affect anyone really, but it was the truth of the matter. It all originated from their home planet and the half that was deemed unsafe, to be sealed away for eternity.

Really, it was the true goal of the Irkens. To escape from their predators. That fear had been overwritten with overzealousness, the drive for destruction, to show the galaxy that they were no mere bugs, but disgustingly effective soldiers to be feared. And it _worked_. 

But that didn’t mean anything, or that the goal was abandoned. Though the modern day point of it was to document it, study it, find ways to kill these seemingly blaster resistant creatures. 

And so the “deactivated”, “reencoded”, “banished” Irkens, while some really did meet that fate, most of them... Were given a new purpose against their will. They were overwritten with basic survival skills and shipped off, back to Irk. It was easy to hide this from the public. The pilots of these forsaken Irkens were ones who could not communicate their purposes even if they had the will to. 

Such was the fate of the latest Irken defect, who was publicly executed at the Spike of Judgement.

A million thoughts were racing through Ster’s mind as the snaking wire lifted him up. Most were of death and shame and guilt. But instead of being deactivated in a way that he would have expected, he felt the electric being pumped into his back making his limbs fall limp. He couldn’t move, but images flashed through his PAK. Knowledge as well, nothing like the frycooking knowledge already in his PAK. Knowledge on weapons, plants, berries, _beasts_ , cleaning water, making shelter. It was all so overwhelming, his appearance was that of an awestruck Irken with dropping antennae. An Irken who was violently flung down into the abyss below the podium. An Irken who was seemingly to die a death by height, perhaps he would land on his neck and die a quick death. Or maybe the beast of the depths that was rumored to live there were snap him in two.

Everything went dark.

Wind buffering by his face was his next conscious sight. Ster screamed at the realization and scrambled on his feet, only to find himself being shoved off of the ship- ship???...

Ster screamed as he plummeted towards the unknown planet, towards a spinning sea of green. The wind hurt his eyes, and his antennae rang with the sky blowing by. He closed his eyes and flapped his arms a bit. Nothing, his PAK wouldn’t work. He couldn’t fly, or prevent his descent in any way, shape or form. 

Where he had expected death, he was met with a loud thud, and dirt being kicked up by his landing. Pain flashed across his vision for a moment and a pained whimper escaped his mouth, coming out with a cough of pink Irken blood.   
He couldn’t move, stars filling his sight as he stared up at the clear blue sky through the dark green leaves and branches. What was...

Suddenly a hand was pulling him up, causing another pained whine to leave him.

“Oh we got a whiney one.” An unknown voice spat in Irken. Ster could barely balance, let alone see who had pulled him up. He gripped the hand tightly, as another grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

“Welcome to hell, soldier.” The voice next to him said, patting his back. Ster flinched and looked to the two slightly taller Irkens guiding him away from where he had landed.

They were wild looking things, buggy eyes, dirt stained clothes, scars and scratches, pieces of... Some sort of hard material tied to their limbs and fronts. A makeshift helmet adorned the head of the other.

And for the second time in his life, Ster felt afraid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A normal day in the wilderness!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character death here, not too much detail.

Life in the little, hidden away settlement was simple. You were either a builder, a guard, or a gatherer. There were Irkens who didn’t fit into any of the three groups, they lived in a large building in the center of town. These were those who were either a bit more defective than the rest, or injured in a way that prevented them from being helpful in those ways.  
Or, they were too young to be trusted outside of camp.  
They mostly did odd jobs like weaving baskets and making armor. 

Ster had stayed with them all, but only for a little bit as the shock from the fall wore off, and some of the Irkens there explained to him his new life.

Ster was quickly put into gathering duty, since he was relatively able-bodied, and apparently they needed more of them anyways?

He was quickly put to work and taught which berries and fruits were safe, and what was the best to bring back. They even had some patches of the foods growing in a place, which for some reason wasn’t near camp. Ster didn’t ask anything about it, however. 

He was partners with this Irken female named Yarn, who was showing him to the best picking spots and explaining that he had to be careful not to step on insect nests or snap twigs, otherwise. Something bad would happen, but she didn’t explain it to him. Ster sighed and gathered berries, only selecting the ripe ones as he was instructed.

They were bright red with a blue stem and smelled so... Luring. Not devouring them all at once was taking all of his willpower. He placed them into the leaf-woven basket, before showing them to Yarn. “Is this enough?” He asked her.

Yarn walked over and looked into the basket with beaming purple eyes, then nodded.   
“This should be good. The other gatherers are bringing back dewleaves and sugarbark, so that’ll be... Enough.” She settled on, before nodding and picking up her own filled basket. She used her free hand to swipe away a bit of sweat, before starting in the direction of camp again.

The walk back was thankfully uneventful. Until they were right outside of the camp, however. Yarn had been walking behind Ster for a while now, gaze turned to the wilderness around them, on the lookout for any predators.

Ster had stopped in his tracks to admire the defenses that the group of Irkens had set up. Large spikes with obvious pitfall traps, around a sort of sturdy looking wall. This was all clearly handcrafted, with woven leaves and flexible sticks, sheets of clawed wood, support rocks and beams of... Some type of plant.

He stared in awe, before he felt something smush into his back and he yelped, jumping forwards a step. Something on his back was cold and sticky.   
He turned around only to see a clawed hand grab his shirt collar and lift him up.  
“W-what’s the big deal?!” Ster asked in shock.

Before him was Yarn, with berry juice mushed into her already messy clothing. “Look what you did! It’s all ruined and now WE don’t get to eat today!” She shouted at him.   
The next few moments were a blur but suddenly he was being shoved into a tree and claws were being thrown from both parties.

The commotion must have been great enough to draw the attentions of the guards, because before Ster knew what happened, he was being pulled off of Yarn.

He had a scratch over his eye, and bruises on his face. It stung.

She had a bent antenna, a broken off tooth, and a claw mark under her eye. And she was furiously berating the guards who dragged her away.

—-

“What are we supposed to do about it this moon?” Arc demanded across the makeshift table, which was really just an old tree stump. But it spanned at least three Irkens wide.

“We’ll think of something.” Misi reassured him in her soothing tone, antennae perked high as she looked between Pocky and Arc.   
“Well,” Pocky began, before clearing his throat and looking down nervously.   
“Our two newest members just... Got into a fight this morning, they could...”

“The newest ones? Is that really smart?” Arc asked, crossing his arms.

“Uhm... I just thought..”

“We can get rid of one of the defectives.” Arc shrugged. 

“Wait!” Pocky said. “They also wasted a basket of striped berries.”   
That had Arc’s attention. Wasting food was a violation of the rules.

“Who? Ster or Yarn?” Misi cut in, looking to the former navigator.  
“Yarn.” Pocky said, antennae drooping slightly.

Arc frowned, resting his arms on the table. “Well, she’s kind of tall. I’m sure that her sacrifice will sate him.”

“...I still don’t like this.” Misi murmured.

“We can’t go back on this. Not on a deal with a _mudbeast_. He’d eat our whole camp.” Arc argued, antennae slicked against the top of his head in stress. “Of course I don’t like feeding perfectly good Irkens to the thing! But we have no choice. There must be order, and this is the only way we can be safe.”

“I know.. It just, feels wrong.” Misi said.

Pocky watched the two talk for a bit before running his hands over his antennae. “Maybe we can-“

“No, we can never gather enough food to feed both everyone, and that thing. Have you seen him in person?”

Pocky shook his head and Arc shuddered at the memory. The breathtaking height of that creature was enough to strike fear into the hearts of anyone. Even the Tallests themselves, he’d be willing to bet.   
He was unaware of just how correct he was about that assumption.

—-

The Tallests had been watching them since the beginning, seen a civilization grow before their very eyes. It was so crude and lacking in all technology, nothing spare for the very PAKs on their backs. 

The encounters they watched were horrifying. They didn’t understand how most of the little defects managed to live, or survive, let alone build buildings out of sticks and leaves. 

This Mudbeast creature was one of the most terrifying things the Tallests has ever seen, and they had both been through invader training.

Every month, on the new moon, these little feral Irkens would sacrifice one of their own to it to keep it from destroying their entire camp.

The deal they made with it, it had been so morbid to watch... Scary. How was that Irken so brave?  
That day, Red had practically been forced to pry Purple off of him. Just the sight and the sound of its voice...

—-

Ster wasn’t sure what happened. He was having his injuries treated, when he heard a slight commotion. None of the other Irkens in the room seemed to be bothered by it. Ster thanked the seemingly medic Irken, before leaving. Everyone had already been fed, and the sun was beginning to set. That meant nighttime. Ster could feel his anxiety bubbling.

An old instinct in him told him to be afraid. He was.

Next to the camp’s exit, was Yarn. Besides her was a guard... Arby? Yeah, Arby was his name. They seemed to be talking. Arby looked sad and Yarn looked horrified.

Then they... Left camp?

Ster blinked in confusion. Why would they leave the one safe place here? Right before all of the more dangerous creatures came out of hiding to hunt?...

He couldn’t help himself when he followed. He stayed low in the bushes and was careful not to snap any twigs or rustle any leaves too hard.

What he saw when he arrived a bit after them, was horrifying.

Arby was pointing a spear at Yarn’s back, who was standing and looking up at a huge, reptile-like creature. It had two large incisors, with many other sharp razors for teeth. It was the color of mud with lighter spots, and spikes adorning it. It was easily the height of ten Irkens, if it unfurled. It’s large maw took only a second to chomp down on Yarn.

The scream was cut off short as the PAK was bitten straight in half. Sparks filled the clearing for a moment before Arby backed off.  
“O-okay, bye...” He said cautiously.

The mudbeast finished his meal and gave a sharp-toothed grin.  
“Where’s the other one?”

Ster peeked further into the clearing to see what was happening, antennae flicking.

“I was sure that only one bug was to be brought to me, but I sense another...” He said lowly, voice deep and rumbling. It seemed to resonate in the clearing, making Ster shudder.

Arby blinked in panic before finally looking in the direction they had come.

Oh. STER.

“Ster! Come here right now!” He commanded, slamming the back of his spear into the ground. Then a nervous smile was given to the mudbeast.  
“I am really sorry.” He apologies. 

The creature didn’t move.

Ster hesitated before obeying.

“Here, y-you can have him too.” Arby was saying, and before Ster could register the words, he was being jabbed and shoved forwards. Then suddenly he was smacked into the air by a tail and he could see the glinting of teeth- Then it was dark.

Arby stared before backing away.  
“Bye.”

The snake-beast smiled. The best that it could, given its facial structure.

“That’s two. I was promised one. Why don’t I just...”

Arby stared.

“ _Have one more? _” Its voice was low and rumbly, speaking in broken Irken. It was the most horrifying thing that the Tallests has watched. Watched as that THING murdered three Irkens like it was nothing.__

__“D-did you see that?!” Purple asked as the feed for Arby cut off. He grabbed Red’s shoulder and pointed at the blank screen. “It killed all three of them!!! It’s teeth! RED DID YOU SEE IT?”_ _

__Red shuddered as he stared at the blank screen.  
“Yes, I saw it Purple.” He said in a monotone voice, before shouting at a table drone to bring them snacks._ _


End file.
